National Bioenergy Center

The National Bioenergy Center (NBC) was established in October 2000 to support the science and technology goals of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biomass Program. Headquartered at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), this virtual center unifies DOE's efforts to advance technology for producing fuels, chemicals, materials, and power from biomass. The NBC has primary responsibility for carrying out the agenda of the Office of the Biomass Program of DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and other related goals. Collaborating with industrial, academic, related EERE programs, and other governmental research, development and commercialization efforts is central to that agenda.

Mission

The NBC fosters capability building in renewable bio-based fuels, chemicals, industrial products, and power to catalyze the creation of new industries and supports technical improvements in efficient and economical use of biomass in agriculture- and forest-based industries.

NBC Organization

The NBC is composed of four technical groups and a technical lead for partnership development with industry, who coordinates partnerships with industry in the biomass, biofuels, biopower, and bio-based products research areas. Partnership development includes work performed at NREL under Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, Technical Service Agreements, Analytical Service Agreements, and Work for Others contract research for DOE's industry partners.

The NBC is a real center with a research organization housed at NREL, its lead laboratory, and a virtual center of biomass R&D efforts conducted at four other DOE laboratories. Each of the five laboratories has a designated "relationship manager" to coordinate its interactions with the Office of the Biomass Program within DOE and other DOE laboratories. Visit the Web sites of the other DOE laboratories to learn more about their research in support of the DOE Office of the Biomass Program.

Graphic of an organizational chart for the National Bioenergy Center. M. Cleary, Director, has six direct reports. The first direct report is A. Darzins, Applied Science Manager. Reporting to A. Darzins are E. Wolfrum, Biomass Analysis Supervisor, and P. Pienkos, Applied Biology Supervisor. The second direct report is M. Davis, Chemical and Catalyst Science Manager. Reporting to M. Davis are M. Nimlos, Applied Spectroscopy Supervisor (Acting), and K. Magrini-Bair, Thermochemical Science Supervisor (Acting). The third direct report in J. McMillan, Biochemical Process R&D Manager. Reporting to J. McMillan are R. Elander, Bioprocess R&D Supervisor, and D. Schell, Bioprocess Integration R&D Supervisor. The fourth direct report is B Baldwin, Thermochemical Process R&D and Biorefinery Analysis Manager (Acting). Reporting to B. Baldwin are S. Phillips, Thermochemical Process R&D Supervisor, and Andy Aden, Biorefinery Analysis Supervisor. The fifth direct report is J. Ashworth, Partnership Development Team Leader, and the sixth direct report is V. Healey, Research Support Supervisor. There is also a 'virtual center' to improve interlab collaboration in bioenergy. There are five laboratory relationship managers: Biorefinery R&D, T. Foust, National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Feedstock Development, R. Graham, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Biomass Harvesting Technology, J.R. Hess, Idaho National Laboratory; Syngas, Catalysis, and Bioproducts, D. Stevens, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and Reaction Engineering and Separations, S. Snyder, Argonne National Laboratory.

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